Making Agents Rich Episode 98
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Hey, listen. If you want show transcripts, links, and other stuff that we mention in today's show, all you have to do is go to makingagentsrich.com/98.
If you're not leaving any content, any insider information, any analysis and advice just for them, they don't feel important. And when people don't feel important, if they feel like everyone, they're not going to give you referrals.
This is the only show on the Internet dedicated to making agents rich. If you are looking for bright, shiny objects or suffering from information overload, please stop listening now and get a therapist. But if you are seeking proven systems that will give you true freedom, you're in the right place.
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You are listening to the Making Agents Rich Show.
Do you want to know how to turn your database into an ATM almost instantly? Then check out the Referral Getter. Just go to www.referralgetter.com for more info now.
Jonathan: You are listening to Making Agents Rich. We are two guys that work tirelessly to help line your pockets with dough and fill your calendar with family time and fun stuff. This is the Making Agents Rich Show. I am Jonathan Rivera. He is Darin Persinger. How goes it, sir?
Darin: I'm feeling a little tired.
Jonathan: What?
Darin: I'm working so much to help these agents and these MARSians. I'm feeling tired here, tirelessly doing all this stuff -- recording podcasts and writing content.
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Jonathan: Boy.
Darin: I'm tired.
Jonathan: Boy.
Darin: I'm tired, Jonathan.
Jonathan: I said we were working tirelessly and then you report back on how tired you are. I'm so sorry to hear that. Did you sit in your stool today? You're supposed to bring the energy up.
Darin: Yeah. I'm in my stool.
Jonathan: Are you sitting upright?
Darin: I'm in my stool.
Jonathan: Okay.
Darin: Yeah.
Jonathan: How about, have you still been training for your 5K? Are you running?
Darin: Oh, yeah.
Jonathan: Are you getting your blood going?
Darin: Yeah, absolutely.
Jonathan: Okay.
Darin: Just too much content.
Jonathan: Too much content. You must be working harder than me then.
Darin: No, I'm not. I was just talking about that before we hit the record button that I can't believe you're still emailin' all the time.
Jonathan: Yeah.
Darin: I need to get back into that maybe.
Jonathan: If not, go ahead and just pass me a CSV of your list and I'll merge them in because I like to do --
Darin: Let's think about that. Maybe I'll just --
Jonathan: -- seven days a week.
Darin: Maybe I'll just email the Making Agents Rich audience.
Jonathan: There you go. All right, so --
Darin: We should talk about that.
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Jonathan: Gang, the way it breaks down if you're new around here, we do a silly Question of the Day to set the mood, then we jump into the Numbers Never Lie, and after that we go into our main topic. Today's main topic is how your sphere doesn't -- no, actually how your sphere knows you don't love them. No, I'm just kidding. It's your sphere doesn't feel important and we've been discovering more ways to get referrals and the reasons why you're not getting referrals, and this is just a continuation in the series. With that, Darin, can we jump into the Question of the Day?
Darin: You want the Question of the Day?
Jonathan: Can I have the Question of the Day, sir?
Darin: Absolutely.
Jonathan: What have you got?
Darin: Are you a sunrise or a sunset type of guy?
Jonathan: Sunrise. Especially at the beach.
Darin: Okay. Second part to that question.
Jonathan: Oh, two-parter.
Darin: Are you a sunrise because you've stayed up all night or a sunrise because you were up early?
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Jonathan: Sunrise because I just threw on my jogging shoes and I'm getting ready to watch the sun come up as I'm running kind of guy.
Darin: Yeah, you're an early riser. I remember when I first kind of met you online, I was a definite night owl and I would be going to bed as you were waking up.
Jonathan: Oh, yeah. Like 3:00 in the morning over here -- yeah. That's right.
Darin: Yeah, and I was going to bed around midnight, 1:00 in the morning and you were waking up.
Jonathan: Yeah. I don't wake up that early anymore but, yes, sunrise for sure. Goes with my chipper attitude.
Darin: I don't stay up that late anymore. Isn't that funny how that works?
Jonathan: I'm a good influence on you. I like that.
Darin: Just one quick tip, a surprise tip for everyone that I was talking to some of my one-to-one clients about recently. We've done some shows on this but just to bring this back, a little productivity tip because that's what I am, I'm the Productivity Junkie.
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It kind of reminded me as you don't wake up that early anymore and I don't stay up that late anymore, the idea of crushing it, right? What concerns me about that if you're someone doing that right now -- and actually this comes from me running. I was training too hard, I went over my minimum effective dose, Jonathan.
Jonathan: I bet.
Darin: So here's what happened. I was supposed to run, take a break, run, take a break, run, take a break so one day run, next day off. And I was thinking I'm not making as much progress as I like. Let me run 80% this day instead of to my full maximum, and then the next day I'll run a little bit more but still not 100%. I thought I would try that.
I got to the third day and I just didn't have the discipline to cut myself off. I ran further than I probably should've and then what happened is I was so sore the next day, I didn't run.
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And then the next day, I kind of skipped it again and then I headed into the weekend so I didn't run. So four days in a row I didn't run and then it was Monday and I was like, "Oh, I don't feel running" again. All of a sudden, five days and I got completely out of the habit. It all started because I didn't pay attention to the minimum effective dose.
This is what I was talking to my clients about is if you try to crush it one day like, "Oh, I'm going to put in a 14-hour day and work on all these projects," you feel like crap the next day and you don't do anything. So did you really get ahead or did you just rob yourself of productivity from the future?
Jonathan: Yeah, buddy. I'm glad you're feeling that. That's exactly how I approach my business and running is that disciplined approach. Give to it every day but don't ever overdo it. You can always add more.
I had a talk with a guy in my Mastermind and he wanted to get up earlier and I'm like, "Okay. So what do you want to get up earlier for?" and he's like, "So I can work more hours."
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I'm like, "What? You want to do what? Wait a second. Are you going to get off work early or something?" And he's like, "No, because then I can pound the pavement harder, get my day organized, organize my route." And I'm like, "Wait a second. Where's the balance in that?" I mean, you can't just go full hard all the time and expect to keep going. You'll break down like Darin did.
Darin: Yeah. Minimum effective dose, people. Can't argue with it.
Jonathan: Did we do a show on that?
Darin: We bring that up as -- yeah, we've done a few different things on that. We'll find those episodes.
Jonathan: Okay. I got to link that.
Darin: Throw them into the links over at makingagentsrich.com/98 I think we're on.
Jonathan: Look at you calling out show notes. I like it. I like it.
Darin: Yeah.
Jonathan: Good stuff, Darin.
Darin: That's what I do.
Jonathan: So can we --
Darin: It only took me 98 episodes to figure out how to do this.
Jonathan: Yeah, you're a quick study. So can we jump into the Numbers Never Lie?
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Darin: Yeah, let's get back on topic. That was a little extra bonus for you. So Numbers Never Lie -- this series, we are talking about sphere of influence, how to get more referrals. The Numbers Never Lie, I want you to look at your own business here and figure out what numbers that you have in your business, what story they are telling you because the numbers never lie in your own business even. How many people in your sphere of influence have personally heard from you in the last 30 day?
I'm not talking about a Facebook post or an email; I'm talking about personal, one-to-one, direct outreach from you. You're going to think that number and you look at that and you're going to be like, "Ugh. No wonder I don't have more referrals."
Jonathan: Mmm. Yeah. I'm trying to think of how many people I have spoken to at the apartments. I've probably spoken to maybe 25% of my tenants in person, by text message, or by phone.
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Darin: Okay. That's good, that's good.
Jonathan: I communicate with them all the time but not asking for referrals. Isn't that what we're doing here? Heard from you for a specific reason or just heard from you at all?
Darin: Just heard from you at all because it will set you up for success in getting referrals later.
Jonathan: Yeah. Staying in touch with everyone so those numbers, those are your touches. Got it. I think I got it. Okay. Cool, cool. So more trickery this week. Darin's making you come up with your own number. With that, let's just move on into the main topic. What have we got today, Darin?
Darin: Let's talk about how your sphere doesn't feel important and why that leads to you not having more referrals.
Jonathan: Well, why do they need to feel important? If they're not sending me referrals, I don't need to bother with them.
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Darin: Here's the metaphor that I look at. If you go to the bank and you ask to withdraw $12,000 but your balance, you only have $6,000 in the account. How's that going to work out?
Jonathan: Hmm.
Darin: So you need to make sure that you've made some deposits into it. Now, on the flip side, going back to the last episode where we said you've got to make the ask, one of the problems is that a lot of agents are making too many deposits without making any withdrawals.
Jonathan: Ah. Really? So they're making all the contacts without trying to actually cultivate some business out of it.
Darin: Yeah, yeah. "Oh, let me send this newsletter and let me help them with this. And let me go over there and help them paint this weekend. And let me give them this because the law of reciprocity says if I do enough things for them, they'll give me business." Yeah, if you ask.
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Jonathan: The law of reciprocity, I haven't heard that one in a while. That's interesting and that's one of the reasons why it's so easy for us to make sales these days. When we're emailing every day, we are making deposits and then we are also asking for a sale so there's a balance in that system.
Darin: Right, right. So --
Jonathan: I mean, really, Darin, people would want to refer to you, wouldn't they? I mean, if you ask -- let's just be serious here. If you ask and you've done a good job and you sent nice newsletters and cakes and everything, they would certainly love to refer you a deal if the opportunity was right, wouldn't they?
Darin: I'll give you an example personally for me. It has nothing to do with real estate sales or business. This is just friend stuff, okay?
I have a friend, Tim, who I've known pretty much the entire time I've moved out here. Met him pretty early on.
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I can't count the number of times Tim has asked me to go to a Seattle Sounders game, the football club here --
Jonathan: Yeah.
Darin: -- or soccer that we call in America. The problem for me was, as a speaker, consultant, I was traveling constantly and then when I would get home on the weekends, one of the last things I wanted to do was go down into Seattle and sit through the traffic just to get into the game and all that stuff. I was like, oh, I got to be back up at 4:00 a.m. on Monday and on the road again. So I said no I don't know how many times to Tim.
This last weekend, Tim asked me once again, "Hey, got an extra ticket. Darin, do you want to come?" I said yes. It had nothing to do with that I didn't like soccer, I didn't like the Sounders, or that I didn't like Tim, it's just I had my own things going on but Tim kept making the ask and I finally said yes.
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By the way, Tim making the ask kind of made me feel important unto itself so bringing it back to today's topic, if he would have stopped asking, I kind of would have felt like, "Oh, I don't have a friend anymore." But the simple fact that he was asking kind of made me feel important, Jonathan.
Jonathan: That's interesting.
Darin: That he kept asking even though I kept saying no.
Jonathan: It's almost counter-intuitive.
Darin: Does that make sense?
Jonathan: Yeah, it's counter-intuitive though but I see what you're saying. Now --
Darin: So maybe -- go ahead.
Jonathan: So how do we relate that to asking for referrals? Do you think that in your marketing and in your follow-up, when you do ask people for help, it makes them feel important as well?
Darin: If you're doing things that -- yeah, because here's what I took away from Tim asking me: either Tim doesn't have any friends, which can also be true, or Tim really wants me to go to a soccer game --
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Jonathan: Yeah.
Darin: -- with him. There's something important to Tim maybe about me going down to a soccer game with him that he's asked me these different times. We watched the World Cup together on television. We've watched the NCAA. We've watched Seahawks games. We've watched Packer games. We've watched Badger football games. We've watched all sorts of different things on television together, gone on drinking together. Just haven't gone to a soccer game together.
So I feel like there's something important that we go experience this thing together. By the way, it was fun. That was a fun experience. Soccer fans in Seattle are crazy.
Jonathan: Wow.
Darin: If you don't have one in Orlando, you guys are getting one soon.
Jonathan: Oh, yeah? That's interesting.
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Darin: Yeah. So to tie it back in to this, it's not just about the ask. We kind of covered that in the last show. But I think people like to feel like they belong to something. So where I really want to go with this is: are you giving people, are you giving your sphere -- do they feel like they are a part of a club, like an insider's type club? Do you do anything extra, communicate with them in an extra way that would make them feel that way, that makes them feel important, that they're getting things from you that they're just not getting from other people?
I think you might agree with this, Jonathan, is when I made the shift from making videos all the time and blogging all the time to just writing email, I felt like the email list was like "I am getting something from Darin that no one else is. I feel important now because Darin just doesn't publish this stuff out there for anyone to find. He's only sharing it with me."
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Do you feel like your list still feels that way or has ever felt that way?
Jonathan: Maybe. I don't know. I'd have to ask them but they certainly get to know me at a different level so I guess, in that sort of way, like they get a little different piece of me because I'm talking to them. I'm not making training videos or webinars or any of that stuff but I'm writing an email to let you know what's up and how it ties in to business. So, yeah, maybe a little extra level of connection I think.
Also, something that's interesting, I don't know if I told you this but since I started emailing seven days a week, my open rates have actually gone up. Isn't that weird?
Darin: No. No. I mean, we know the more often you email, the higher your open rates are going to be, right? I mean, not to steal any of your thunder. Maybe for the novices listening, but you and I know that. I'm so not surprised. Maybe a listener was surprised but I'm not. Sorry.
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Jonathan: Okay. I didn't impress you with that. I was surprised by it just thinking that I was going to overwhelm folks with seven days a week and it doesn't. It actually bonds folks to me so that's the same thing you can look at in your referral marketing or any of your marketing, right? Being there for people every day makes them feel important. "Oh, he's got a story for me. He's here."
Darin: Well, there was a conference, a big real estate conference that happened recently. I saw things about open rates and when's the best time to email, the best day of the week, the best times, and I was just thinking, "Why are we still having this discussion?" What we know is the more often you email, the more people get used to seeing you in their inbox and they open the email. You don't need fancy subject lines. You need to figure out the time of day. You just increase the frequency and they're like, "Okay. Here's another email from Jonathan as I expected. I'm going to open it and read it."
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That's all you need. Why are we still discussing things like that?
So going back to making people feel important, here's the thing. You were at my wedding.
Jonathan: Yes.
Darin: That's a private country club.
Jonathan: Yes.
Darin: What did you think about the venue?
Jonathan: I thought it was beautiful. It was really. And doing it outside and all that, that beautiful green grass, it was just a really nice experience.
Darin: Private club, the members there I think feel important. That's what I'm talking about with your sphere doesn't feel important. If you're just posting anything and everything out there, if you're not holding anything back for your sphere, for the people who give you referrals, who introduce you to others, if you're not leaving any content, any insider information, any analysis and advice just for them, any time just for them, they don't feel important.
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And when people don't feel important, if they feel like everyone, they're not going to give you referrals because they don't see you as important if you don't see them as important. I'll let you have the last word on that and then we can go into the three tips.
Jonathan: No, I'm with you. You have to give 'em a little piece of you, as I said earlier, something that's special. I guess that's the part where then they give you a little more of them, right? If you're giving them information --
I'm trying to figure it out. I know I did an interview with a referral guy a long time ago and he had this thing called The Great Retrace and any time he got a referral and he closed a deal, he would call the person that referred the deal, like, "Hey, you really helped me with this. I closed Bobby's house the other day. Thanks for the referral," maybe even sends him a gift after that. So not only is he closing a deal but he's also letting the other person know the impact that they had and so that they can do it again, right? So he would go back and remind him.
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Yeah, I think that made people feel important. Hey, he took care of it. He got it done. Hey, I can count on him for anybody else I have.
Darin: That's perfect. So the next episode, that's kind of what we’re going to go into because one of the key ways that you can really make people feel important is with communication and thanking them for the introduction referrals. So we're going to go into that into the next episode a little bit deeper.
Jonathan: Whoops.
Darin: So don't forget to -- no, don't worry about it. Don't forget to bring us into that a little bit deeper.
So some things to take away from this episode, number one, what do you have or what are you going to create that makes people feel important, a differentiator? The second thing is I think you need to brand it. As much as I'm against branding -- and we should do a whole show on this.
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Jonathan: Okay.
Darin: I don't think you need to brand yourself but you need to brand your stuff. A simple way would be call it your insider newsletter or your insider email list. So what are you going to brand it? What are you going to call it? Or your private list, figure out a name so people go, "Okay. I'm getting something that these other people aren't getting."
Jonathan: Right. Some sort of coined phrase or something that just gives a little affinity to whatever it is, let's you know that this is not everything else.
Darin: Because, by the way, what happens, what you want to shoot for is not just a referral to do business with you but a referral to that, right? Wouldn't that be easier, Jonathan, to refer someone of, "Hey, my real estate agent has this private email list" or "this monthly newsletter that I get. You should get on it."
Jonathan: Right.
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Darin: So that it's easier for your people to introduce you and refer you, not just go, "Hey, you need to go sit down with my real estate agent. Call him." Hey, get on to his email list.
Jonathan: It's so much easier than actually referring them to you.
Darin: Right?
Jonathan: Yeah, that makes perfect sense.
Darin: And then the third thing, I'll just save it for the next one, is you've got to think --gratitude is a great way to make people feel important and we'll go deeper into that in the next episode.
Jonathan: Okay. So really quickly, what are you going to do to make people feel important? How are you going to brand your system, coined phrase, something that makes it simple to other people to share. And how are you going to thank the people that refer you? So those are the three things.
These are all little bits and pieces of what's coming at you inside the Referral Getter. I know sometimes it's hard to ask for referrals. It's sometimes embarrassing. You don't want to be begging for referrals. Some people don't even have a system in place. We've talked about that a lot, Darin, where they just don't have a regular way of getting referrals because referrals just happen.
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The cure to all of that is waiting for you over at referralgetter.com. Check out referralgetter.com right now. Turn your database into an ATM almost overnight. Anything you want to say on that as we're closing out, Darin?
Darin: One last thing is that the referral side of your business should be the most predictable side of your income. You should know, based upon the size of your database and how you communicate with them of like, "Hey, I'm going to have ten transactions this year" or 15 transactions this year from your sphere so that you don't have to stress as you begin your year or a quarter of where is your business going to come from. You know it's going to come from your database and your sphere and to me that's the most powerful thing about the Referral Getter.
Jonathan: Good stuff. All right, so that wraps up Making Agents Rich number 98, why your sphere doesn't feel important.
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We're coming at you with more of this Referral Getter type of stuff next week. Thank you, guys, for tuning in. Thank you, Darin, for sharing your knowledge with us. We'll see you on the next one.
Yeah, that just happened. If you got that kick in the butt you needed to jumpstart your real estate business, then you can thank us by rating this show on iTunes. Thanks for tuning in, and remember to subscribe to get new shows delivered free.
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